Ain't No Rest For The Wicked
by SkyeRockette
Summary: Sometimes, being smart isn't enough. Sometimes, you've got to do what's wrong to do what's right. But the ends always justify the means… right? Many OCs. Takes place from Near entering Wammy's House to L's death.
1. Prologue

AN: I don't own! This will be my disclaimer for the entire story, I will not repeat this over and over as it gets really, really annoying! Buut... welcome! This is the prologue to my Death Note story! I hope you enjoy! I won't be updating this until I've got at least half of the story written however, because it really pisses me off when an author updates two chapters and then forgets about the rest... so to make sure I don't do that this is my solution. If you think it sounds even remotely interesting, you can check out more info and updates on my profile! SR

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Have you ever heard of the legendary detective, L? Maybe not directly, but I'm sure you've heard about some of the cases he's solved, like the OJ Simpson and LABB Murder cases. What, you thought those were done by normal police officers? Not a chance. It takes a special kind of detective, a genius one, to solve these kinds of cases. Even though it seems L could never fail, even he knew that death would eventually claim him. That's why Watari, or Quillish Wammy, started the Wammy's House orphanage. All of the kids who entered were chosen specially, for these kids would be raised to take on the L title.

The first group selected consisted of just two kids, both orphaned in tragic ways, and both handpicked by L personally. They were known as Alternative and Backup, or A and B. However, the pressures and seclusion were too much. A ended up committing suicide, which happened shortly after B ran away from the orphanage to become the world's greatest criminal. Watari and L decided that the orphanage needed to seem more like a boarding school for orphans then a training ground for a detective.

In the summer of 1996, Mr. Wammy went to orphanages all over the world, searching for those who fit in the category of 'genius'. Seven kids were chosen, their ages ranging from just two, up to six. Each was given an alias and escorted to their new home. Word spread of the 'genius orphanage' that Mr. Wammy was operating, and in February of the next year an officer called Mr. Wammy asking him to come check if a child could be accepted. The officer explained that the boy had been inside of a church in his country, which will remain anonymous, when terrorists started bombing. Being the only one in the church, he was the only one wasn't killed on impact. He managed to find a phone, and call the authorities. A special team came and apprehended the bombers, the man explained, and listened as the little boy explained his story. Mr. Wammy was impressed with this six year olds intellect, and immediately accepted him into his orphanage. He became known as Mello.

Eight months later, in October of 1997, Mr. Wammy received another call. There had been a terrible car wreck in the middle of a rarely traveled road. A boy of only six had managed to wiggle out of the wreckage, and make it to the nearest town to inform a police officer. Because of his efforts, there were several survivors; however, the boy had been orphaned. Mr. Wammy gladly welcomed this boy, and he became known as Krater.

April of 1998 brought Mr. Wammy a third call, from yet another country. This time the seven year old boy had been brought into hiding with his convict of a father. The authorities had been looking for him for several years. The child had recognized his father's face on the television and called the number shown. His efforts got the murderer arrested, and he accepted into Wammy's House. His name is now Matt.

Mr. Wammy thought that his orphanage had finally been filled, when just the next month L told him to check into some kids who had been involved in one of his cases. L had been following a serial killer for the past three months, when the police called him and told him a picture of the culprits had been brought in. The seven year old daughter of the murderers had followed them one night into the house of their victims. Their five year old son was woken by the noise, and managed to get a picture of their murder. When the killers turned on him, their daughter had rushed in and saved the boy, taking him to the nearest police station. Mr. Wammy brought them in that very night. They are known as Jax and Near.

Quillish Wammy looked at his group of L's heirs, and smiled. His orphanage was complete.


	2. Chapter 1

Hey there! So, I have most of this planned out, and about half of it typed. Let me know what you think! ^-^

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The long, black limo pulled up in front of Wammy House's wrought iron gates. The two children inside stared up at the large building in wonder. Mr. Wammy reached over them and opened up the door. Jax finally took out the headphones connected to the CD player Mr. Wammy had given her back at the hospital. She only had one CD, but that was enough to help calm her. Near held tightly onto the robot he had been given with one hand, and grabbed Jax's hand with the other. They crawled out and waited for the man to lead them inside.

"Jax, Near, follow me." The kids were too exhausted to do anything else. They had just been checked out of the hospital in Colorado a mere twelve hours ago, and had suffered a long night before that.

The girl, Jax, had long, bright auburn hair and deep blue, sleep-deprived eyes. She was wearing a simple black hoodie and plan blue jeans. She tightened her grip on Near's hand. The boy had curly, pure white hair, and cloudy, dark grey eyes. His clothes were a set of white pajamas that matched his hair.

Most of the other kids were running around the yard, kicking a soccer ball around. One of the girls stopped running and watched as the new kids walked in. Her face lit up as she waved to Mr. Wammy excitedly. Near stared blankly at her as she ran off, while Jax grabbed tightly on to Mr. Wammy's hand.

"That was Linda. She's your age Near." The boy didn't seem to care.

"Umm… Mr. Wammy?" Jax asked. He looked down at her with a calming smile. "How many kids are here?"

"Including you two, there are now twelve. I'll introduce you to all of them before I leave, don't worry." She thought his last words were pointless, it was impossible to worry about much with his kind eyes staring at you coupled with his cheerful smile.

They made it across the yard and walked into the large orphanage. There was a small boy sitting in the window playing on a handheld device. He also had red hair, but his was much darker, and his eyes were covered with a pair of orange tinted goggles.

"Mr. Wammy!" The boy immediately dropped his game as he ran up to the old man and gave his leg a tight hug.

"Hello Matt. Why aren't you outside with the others?" The boy looked back out the window.

"Umm… I really wanted to beat my game." Wammy sighed at the secluded boy.

"Matt, I'd like you to meet Jax and Near." The girl's eyes went wide at being mentioned. Near continued to wear his blank expression, it was slightly unnerving to Jax.

"Hey! I'm not the new kid anymore!" He said with a large smile. Mr. Wammy gave his hair a found ruffle.

"Would you care to join us? I'm showing them Wammy's House." Matt nodded eagerly and quickly grabbed onto the man's free hand. "How have you been, Matt?"

"Great! I finished the game you had given me, and now I'm trying to beat my record!" The old man chuckled. "Do either of you play games?"

"I have a Pokémon game…" Jax said quietly. Matt's face lit up.

"No way! Me too! We can totally battle each other! I'll definitely win, though." This brought a spark into Jax's eyes.

"Yeah right." Mr. Wammy chuckled at their antics. He passed the staircase on his left, and pointed to the doors on his right.

"My good friend Roger is the Headmaster here, this is his office. This next door is the dining hall, and the one after is the kitchen, though you can't go in there without permission." The group continued down the hallway until they reached a turn. "In front of you are the loo, to your left is the common room, and to your right is the play room."

"I think Daisy and Bridge are in there if you want to introduce them." Matt piped up. Mr. Wammy held open the door for the kids.

It was larger than anyone ever expected it to be. There were boxes and shelves all along the walls that held hundreds of toys; legos, trains, puppets, puzzles, dolls, and crayons to list a few.

"Hello Daisy, Bridge." The man smiled warmly. Jax noticed that he made sure to mention everyone by name, most likely to make them feel important.

"Mr. Wammy!" They cheered, running up to hug him.

"I'd like to introduce you to Jax and Near. This is their first day." He said, releasing the hands he was holding to return the youngsters hugs. "This is Daisy, and this is Bridge. They're the youngest here, both being four."

"But I'm older!" Daisy added. She was a tiny girl, and with her bleach blonde pixie cut and light brown eyes she looked almost like a pixie.

"Aren't you too young to chew gum?" Jax asked suddenly. Daisy shook her head.

"It helps me concentrate and keeps me calm." She responded. "Like strawberry milk does for Bridge!" The boy had short dirty blonde hair, and blue eyes that were slightly lighter then Jax's own. Sure enough, the boy had a cup of strawberry milk in his hand.

"Let's head up to the second floor, shall we?" There was no need to ask; the kids had quickly decided they would do anything the smiling man asked. Daisy waved goodbye to everyone and turned back to the legos her and Bridge had been playing with. Jax and Matt reclaimed the hands they were holding as they began going up the stairs.

Jax had counted eighteen stairs coming up. They were higher than her apartment used to be.

"The loo is right next the stairs over there." He pointed across the staircase. "The two rooms over here are your classrooms, and these double doors on your left lead to the gym."

"You have a gym in here?" Jax stared wide eyed at the door. "You _are_ really rich." Mr. Wammy gave a small chuckle, but didn't deny the comment.

"And the far double doors lead to our library."

"The gym sounds way more fun." Jax turned to the small boy holding her hand. "What do you think Near?" He looked startled at being directly addressed.

"The play room looks the best to me."

"We can go in there once we're done with the tour then, okay?" Jax smiled at the small boy. He gave a slight nod.

"Let's head up to the third floor." Mr. Wammy led them up the next staircase, which Jax noticed also had eighteen steps. The third floor was divided into two hallways, with a large room in the middle.

"The rooms in the middle are the showers. The front two doors lead to the girls', and the back two lead to the boys'."

"There are exactly twelve rooms…" Jax pointed out. Mr. Wammy chuckled.

"Yes, in the original blueprint, I only had ten, but on L's suggestion I added two more."

"Wow, L is really, _really_ smart." Mr. Wammy chuckled again.

"Yes he is. Now, I'm not exactly sure which rooms are open, Matt?" The redhead looked excited at being helpful.

"This first room is open, and so is the room next to mine!" Jax took a step forward, but then looked up questioningly at Mr. Wammy. He released both of their hands.

"Go get acquainted with your new rooms." He said with that smile of his. Jax smiled and pulled Near into the first room.

The three kids stepped inside. It was completely bare. There was a plain white blanket on top of the bed, with matching plain white pillow cases and sheets. A decent sized window with a window seat was against the far wall, and a desk was placed next to it. A dresser was on the wall opposite the bed.

"Look Near! It's decorated for you already." Jax chuckled. Near slowly walked in, releasing Jax's hand in the process. He slipped off his backpack and sunk to the floor. Without saying anything, he began to unpack several of the toys he had in there. "I'm going to go look at the other room, I'll meet you later, okay?"

"I'll most likely be in the play room later if you want to find me."

"Okay, umm… bye." Jax and Matt closed the door behind them as they headed down the hallway. "Who's rooms are these?"

"These are Zeon and Skander's rooms. This is the empty one, that's mine, and the far one is Mello's."

"So it's all boys."

"On the other side is Bridge's room, then Daisy's room," He pointed at the outside of the bathroom walls where, on the other side, would be the rooms. "Linda's, Rain's, Krater's, and Cliff's."

"So only three girls."

"Four now." Matt smiled at her. Jax dumped her backpack on the bed, which was just as plain as Near's had been. "Don't worry, Miss Marie will take you shopping and you get to pick out new blankets and some clothes and a poster or two."

"Who's Miss Marie?"

"She's one of the cooks here. She's really nice!" Matt pointed out some of the smaller details that Mr. Wammy missed as they made their way back down to the main lobby. "The five oldest kids are in classroom A, and the five youngest are in classroom B. Thought I guess it'll be six youngest and oldest now."

"How long have you been here?"

"I got here about a month ago, a little less actually."

"Wow, I figured it had been longer. How do you already know everyone's room?" Matt wrinkled his nose.

"I had a tour from Linda." Jax raised an eyebrow at him. "She's nice, I guess. Just… really… happy. All the time. You'll see what I mean." He put his hands in his pockets and continued walking. "Oh, and Daisy and Bridge are almost always in the play room. Just like Cliff and Krater and always outside, and Skander and Zeon are always in the gym. Linda and Rain kinda just run around wherever they want to. Mello and I just stay in our rooms mostly."

"Are you guys friends?" Matt let out a small chuckle.

"Mello doesn't have friends."

"Oh. So where are we going?"

"I'm taking you outside. That's where all the other kids are. Everyone gets together and plays soccer almost every day. It's the only thing that almost everyone likes." As they made it down to the lobby, a group of kids were already gathering down there. "I guess they were waiting for you…" Jax took step back, placing Matt slightly in front of her.

"Hi! I'm Linda, remember? What's your name? Where's the boy?" She had long dark blonde hair, and soft hazel eyes. Though she was practically bouncing on the spot.

"Jax. Near's upstairs." Linda didn't seem to notice that she trying to hide. But seeing as this was an orphanage for geniuses, Jax guessed that she just didn't care.

"Come on! I'll introduce you to everyone!" She reached out and grabbed Jax's hand, pulling her forward before she could run away. "This is my best friend, Rain!"

The other girl had long, wavy, brown hair and matching eyes. She held out her hand, palm down, expectantly. Jax stared at the girl.

"What? Do you think you're a queen or something?"

"No, a princess actually." Rain smiled at her. Jax let out a snort.

"Whatever."

"Yes! Way to stand up to Rain!"

"Good job!" Two boys came out of nowhere and each wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

"Don't let her push you around!"

"She's the only who thinks she's special… except for Linda."

"Oh, silly us! I'm Zeon…"

"…And I'm Skander. Pleased to meet you." Jax stared confused at the two boys. Zeon had shaggy brown hair, and deep green eyes. While Skander's hair was black and spiky, with dark brown eyes. Both were dressed in cut-off shirts and athletic shorts, and both were sweaty.

"Why don't you come with us?"

"Yeah, we'll give you a great tour!" Jax ducked out from under their arms.

"Actually, Matt was just about to show me the yard… sorry!" Jax looked back to the redhead. He quickly got off the stairs and stood next to her.

"It's this way." They dodged around the four kids and hurried outside. Just as they opened the door, Matt froze and threw out his hand to stop Jax from going any farther. "He's Mello." He said quietly. Jax looked at the boy in front of her. He had straight blonde hair that was just at his shoulders with bangs that cut straight across.

"That's a boy?" She asked. Matt cringed as Mello turned towards them. His icy blue eyes narrowed at Jax.

"You're the new girl." He walked up to them. "Listen, let's get something straight. You don't talk to me, and I won't break your face, got it?" Jax's eyes widened as she nodded quickly. She and Matt stepped to the side as Mello strutted into the lobby and up the stairs.

"He's pleasant…" Jax mumbled as she followed Matt outside.

"Actually, that was being rather nice, for him."

"How was that nice?"

"He doesn't shove you down or yell."

"I can tell I'm really going to love it here…" Matt let out a bitter laugh.

"I felt the same way." The two walked all the way around the inside of the gates in silence. It was a huge property with a ton of trees and bushes everywhere. Soccer goals had been set up on two ends in and open part of the yard.

The sun had almost set by the time Jax and Matt went back inside for dinner. Two long tables were set up in the dining room. Several adults were sitting at one, while the kids used the other. On the far side of the room, a buffet line had been set up, and Jax could see the kitchen on the other side. Only two other kids were in still eating. The first boy appeared to be a young Asian, with his oval eyes and short black hair. He was folding up paper while he ate, not paying much attention to what he was doing. The other boy was built a little bigger. He was making a card tower, his brown eyes focusing hard. The first boy brought up the paper he'd been folding, and held out an origami frog.

"Look Cliff!" The sudden sound caused the boy, Cliff, to twitch his hand, and all six stories of his card tower fell. "Oops…" Cliff ran his hand through his spiky blonde hair.

"Don't worry about it." He glanced up. "Hey Matt, Jax."

"Hey Cliff. Hey Krater." The Asian boy, Krater, gave a small smile.

"How'd you know…?" Jax started to ask, but Cliff cut her off.

"You're the new kid, everyone knows you now." He let out a chuckle. "And don't touch the potatoes… they're always messed up."

"Thanks." Jax smiled. She and Matt walked over to grab some of the food that was left, avoiding the mashed potatoes.

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Hey, you!  
Yes, you with the face!  
That link right there... yea, that one?  
It wants you to click it:)  
\/


	3. Chapter 2

AN: Whoo, second chapter! Yea, I feel special:)

Oh, and Disclaimer: I don't own Death Note. If I did, Matt and Mello wouldn't have died:) But that doesn't mean they'll live in this story :3

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That night Jax couldn't sleep. It was 2 a.m. and she was sitting with her back against the wall, her knees held tightly against her chest. All day long she had been distracted, too distracted for the reality to sink in. Her parents had earned themselves a life sentence in jail. She was an orphan. After dinner, Jax had gone to the play room to look for Near. He had been as calm as ever, just playing with his new robot.

"What is wrong with that kid?" She asked the dark. "Well, he did just see his parents murdered right in front of him." She answered. "And now I'm talking to myself… great." She let out a long sigh. Hugging her knees tighter, she tried not to cry. But with so much having happened, she couldn't hold them back any longer. After a few minutes, she heard a knock on her door.

"It's Matt, can I come in?" Without waiting for an answer, the boy let himself into the room. He silently walked over the bed and sat down next to Jax. She tried to hold back from crying, but after another stretch of silence, the tears returned. Matt put an arm around her shoulders and started rubbing her back. "Everyone has to let it out at some point." He told her.

They stayed like that until they both fell asleep. Jax's head laying on her knees, and Matt's resting against her. When the first bell rang the morning at 7, Matt had to forcefully wake Jax up.

"Wha-? Why so early?"

"Classes. NO!" He started shaking Jax again she lay down. "Jax. Wake. Up!" With a grunt, the girl finally rolled out of bed.

"Wait, did you stay in here all night?" Matt blushed a little.

"Yeah, I wanted to make sure you didn't wake up and start crying again." Jax also blushed; they avoided looking at each other for a minute.

"Thanks."

"Don't mention it. Umm… see you in class." Matt rushed out of the room.

As Matt had said, the classes were broken up into the six oldest, and the six youngest. Jax was put into class A, which is the same one Matt was in. It also had Skander, Zeon, Rain, and, unfortunately, Mello. The first part of the day had been completely uneventful. During lunch Skander and Zeon had put on a show; they pretended to be Romeo and Juliet, quoting Shakespeare perfectly.

"Only at Wammy's House can you find eight year olds acting out Shakespeare, word for word, for fun." Matt said with a smirk. As they made their way through the second half of their classes, Jax picked up on something.

"Everyone's clothes look the exact same as yesterday." She whispered during English class. Matt chuckled.

"Yeah, it's easy to fall into routine here. Even I always wear a striped shirt and jeans."

"And your glasses." She tapped them lightly. "So Skander and Zeon always wear athletic clothes, while Rain always wears pink? And Mello's in all black." Matt nodded.

"Linda always wears long sleeve shirts; Cliff and Daisy always have hoodies on; Bridge always wears shorts and a jacket, and Krater always wears blue. Your thing is going to be tank tops and jackets." Jax looked down at what she was wearing.

"And Near will always have white PJs. Why is that?"

"Mr. Wammy said geniuses like patters. It keeps them from getting distracted by simple things. That's part of the reason Mr. Wammy gives you a gift when he brings you here."

"Part?"

"Yeah, the other is to help you calm down. Generally, becoming recently orphaned isn't exactly something most kids enjoy."

"He gave you a game boy, right?"

"Yup. Everyone now has their 'obsession'. Seriously, if one of us has to go too long without being able to do it, we go crazy." Jax took a look around the room. Sure enough, every single kid had something specific they were doing. And the teachers obviously didn't mind. Skander was bouncing a small ball between his hands, while Zeon was twisting a rubix cube, Rain was sucking on a lollipop, and Mello was eating chocolate (violently). Even she had her headphones around her neck. Then Jax remember how Daisy had mentioned that gum helped calm her, like strawberry milk helped Bridge.

"Krater does origami, right? And Cliff…?"

"Cliff stacks things, and Linda's always drawing. Apparently Near likes toys."

"Wow… that's just weird."

"Hey now, you're the one who turned your music on after only five minutes of class." Jax pretended she didn't hear him.

Once classes were done for the day, the kids could do whatever they wanted. After dropping off her books, Jax headed down to the play room to visit Near. Right as Jax opened the door, a stuffed bear went flying at her head.

"What the…?" Near was sitting in the pile of wrecked legos, as none other than Mello kicked all the organized toys around him into chaos. Daisy and Bridge were sitting in the corner of the room, watching with wide eyes as Mello taunted the younger boy.

"Still think you're the best in this school? What, too good to play with anyone else?" As Mello aimed a kick at Near's robot, Jax stepped in.

"Get away from him you jerk!"

"'Jerk'? Really, that's the best you have?" Mello stepped closer to Jax, so her face was only a few inches from his. Without fully thinking her plan through, she brought her hand up and smacked him across the face. Mello looked completely and thoroughly stunned. Jax's eyes widened in fear as Mello began to snarl at her. She let out a small squeal and ran out of the play room.

Matt smiled at her as she was running towards him, but froze mid-step when he saw her expression.

"What happened?"

"I slapped Mello!" Jax sprinted right past him and didn't stop until she made it safely into a back corner of the library. Matt watched as Mello came storming out of the play room. There was a tiny red handprint on his left cheek. Matt couldn't help but smirk at the blonde.

"Wipe that smirk off your face!" Mello yelled angrily before stomping up the stairs. Matt looked up to Mello, who was an entire stair case away, and couldn't help but call out:

"Red's a good color on you!" He ran outside laughing, ignoring the scream of rage Mello let out.

The next week passed by uneventfully. Everyone had been expecting more outbursts from Jax, but she had been even quieter than normal, and avoided Mello at all costs. Of course, all of Wammy's House soon heard about how Mello had finally been smacked, much to his disappointment. Skander had become Jax's number one fan, and would continuously tease Mello that he'd been one-upped by a girl.

Matt had decided it was his new job to teach Jax how to play Mario Karts, which had become his new favorite game. They were sitting in the common room doing practice laps, when Skander walked in.

"Time for me to go." Jax whispered.

"Hey! Jax, where you going?" She didn't respond to Skander's question. "Matt, where'd she go?"

"Bathroom." Skander sighed. Jax had been going to the bathroom a lot lately, it seemed every time he walked into the room she would have to go, and take forever to come back. Yes, Skander was a genius, but he was also in denial.

"I can't believe Mello's still hiding from her! Ha, that guy talks big but he is such a wuss! And what's with his hair? I mean, is he really a guy?" Matt dropped his controller and stood up.

"Skander. Shut up." The raven haired boy glared at Matt.

"You're just jealous because you think I'm going to steal Jax from you!" Matt rolled his eyes.

"Yes, that's exactly it. Now that you've figured out my secret can you please just leave?"

"No. You're right; I am going to steal Jax! She'll be my girlfriend! She doesn't like you anyway! You're too stupid, and funny looking! You don't even go outside; you just play games all day, how boring is that!" Skander smirked at the shorter boy. "The only reason she hangs out with you at all is because she feel bad for you because you have no friends. You're just a loser, Matt." The red head looked down. No one had directly said that to him before, but he knew that's what all the others felt.

Little did either boy know, but Mello had been standing outside the door, and heard the whole exchange. When Matt stopped responding, the blonde felt he should make his entrance.

"Skander." He smirked as the other boy jumped. "I heard you've been saying dirt about me. How about you say it to my face." Skander's eyes grew huge.

"I-I haven't said anything, Mello. I swear! But Matt here was just saying that…"

"Oh really? Because from what I just heard, you were the one saying dirt to him." Mello's smirk grew as he walked closer to the boy, who was now visibly shaking. "Get out of here, Skander." The oldest boy wasted no time in running from the room. Mello pulled out a chocolate bar and took a triumphant bite from it.

"Um… thanks." Matt said quietly. Mello turned to him sharply.

"Don't get used to it. I was just returning the favor."

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I had a little button  
His name was Leave-a-Note  
He loved to be clicked on lots  
It made him feel... special:)

Forget it, I fail at poems, so... clicky?

\/


	4. Chapter 3

AN: Yeah, another chapter. I've got nothing to say here so... tada!

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"Hey, Matt. You want to come play soccer?" Jax asked from the common room doorway. Matt paused his game and gave her an 'are you serious?' look. "I guess that's a no. Fine, I'll go make a fool of myself without you!" She stuck her tongue out and left the room.

"So he's not coming?" Linda asked sadly as Jax ran outside. The redhead shook her head.

"Alright. So now that Jax is playing," Skander flashed her a huge smile. "We don't need any subs! Who are captains this time?" Since everyone wanted to be a captain, the little geniuses had come up with a rotation that made sure everyone got the chance.

"It's mine and Krater's turn." Zeon said. "And Krater gets first pick."

"Mello." Everyone was afraid of the blonde, but there was no denying that he was good at this game.

"Skander." The best friends high-fived as they started their team.

"Cliff."

"Jax."

"Rain."

"Linda."

"Don't worry, stick by me and you'll do fine." Skander said to Jax. "This is your first game with us after all."

"I've played soccer before." She scoffed. Krater won the coin flip, so Mello grabbed the ball first. Linda whistled loudly, and the game started.

After only 20 minutes Jax was already getting exhausted. She hadn't even had the ball that often. Her team had managed to score once, but the other team had come close many times. Jax watched as Skander was aiming to kick the ball into the goal again, and no one was close enough to block it. Then, from out of nowhere, Mello came sliding in to kick the ball away. His technique worked, though Skander ended up kicking him in the head. Linda whistled loudly again, signaling that it had been 30 minutes, their agreed time limit for this game.

"Are you okay, Mello?" Rain asked. She squatted down next to the boy, but he completely ignored her. She sighed and let Linda lead her away. The other kids also walked off. Mello stood up, but quickly grabbed his head fell back to his knees.

"Come on." Jax walked over and held out her hand. Mello swatted it away, but she brought it back in front of him. "I owe you for the slap." The blonde hesitated, but the grabbed her hand. He stood up shakily and leaned against her slightly.

"I just need to get some pain killers from Roger." Jax slowed her pace to match Mello's as they made their way to the Headmaster's office. She knocked quickly, hoping no one would notice how heavily the boy was now leaning on her. After knocking a few more times, she realized Roger wasn't going to answer. "Oh no…" Mello mumbled, before he promptly passed out.

"Matt!" Jax tried to keep Mello standing, but she wasn't strong enough, and had to slowly lower him to the floor. Amazingly, Matt had heard Jax's cry over the sounds of his game. He came running out of the common room and over to her.

"Bloody hell! What happened?"

"He got kicked in the head from soccer! And I helped him get inside but Roger's not in there so he passed out!" Jax said frantically. Matt didn't understand her story, but bent down to grab the blonde anyway.

"We should just get him to his room." Between the two of them, they were able to lift Mello onto Matt's back, and get him up the stairs. Thankfully, everyone was working on their homework already, and too busy to watch the trio's struggles. They finally made it down the hall to Mello's room. Jax quickly opened up the door and waited for the boys to get in. However, just as Matt, still carrying the unconscious Mello, walked through the doorway, Linda and Rain happened to be coming up the stairs.

"I told you Mello was hurt badly!" Rain shouted as soon as the door shut behind them. She turned to her friend, but Linda was just staring wide eyed at the door.

"Matt is cute AND nice… he's perfect!" Rain smirked at the blonde girl.

"Somebody's got a crush!" Linda blushed furiously.

"Well you like Mello!"

"That I do."

"Yet… neither of them likes us." Linda sighed.

"Oh they will. Trust me." Rain's eyes had lit up and she had a plotting smirk on her face as she dragged Linda into her room.

It had been four months since Matt and Jax had taken care of Mello, yet nothing had changed between them. The only sign that something had happened was that Linda and Rain were now persistently flirting with their crushes.

Jax was sitting at her desk, trying hard to learn her Spanish phrases. When Matt told her that learning at least 10 languages, fluently, was required, Jax had laughed. Now she was pulling at her hair in frustration. She gave a sigh and glanced around her room, hoping for a distraction. Miss Marie had taken her shopping quite awhile ago, and now she had a black and white checkered bedspread, with rainbow colored pillow cases. Posters from some of her favorite movies, and one Pokémon poster Matt had insisted she hang up, covered her walls. There were a few other personal touches, such as her beaded curtain and her new radio.

Jax gave a small jump when there was a sudden knock at her door. She pulled her headphones off and called out.

"Come in." The door opened to reveal Linda and Rain. "Oh, hey."

"Hi Jax. I know we don't talk much… but we needed to ask you a favor." Jax became immediately suspicious.

"What's up?"

"Well… we wanted to pull a prank on Matt and Mello." Linda said.

"We're going to steal their clothes, and pretend to be them!" Rain said cheerfully. The redhead started laughing.

"Sounds brilliant! What can I do to help?" The girls broke out in smiles at her question.

"Well, neither of us owns a Game Boy, and we know that you do, so I was wondering if I could barrow it to play Matt." Linda explained.

"And we were also hoping you could be our lookout while we go through their rooms, seeing as neither of them will actually attack you." Jax smiled and nodded.

"I can do that." She grabbed her Game Boy off of her shelf and handed it to Linda. "You'll also need Matt's glasses, or it totally won't be him. I can grab them for you without causing too much suspicion."

"Oh right!" All three girls broke out in giggles.

"Last we checked Mello's in the library, and Matt was in the common room." Rain explained. Jax stood up and joined them in the hallway, only she was staring at the staircase while the other two went into the boys' rooms. Ten minutes later they came out with an armful of clothes. They all ran back into Jax's room to change.

Rain pulled the black shirt and dark jeans on over her other clothes, as they were too big to wear alone. She picked up the chocolate bar she had gotten earlier and giggled.

"A cross would make it perfect!" It was a known fact that Mello always wore a Rosary under his shirt.

"I think Daisy has a necklace, it would be close enough for people to figure out." Linda said thoughtfully. She also slipped the striped shirt and plain jeans on over the top of her own clothes, hoping it would help them stay on better. She picked up the blue Game Boy and smiled.

"Let's go get the necklace and glasses!"


End file.
